Wolfer79, if youd prefer to start an official thread or turn this into an official thread thats fine, just wanted to post a preview for those that are unfamiliar with the track programs at large.
Wanted to start on the topic since some of the athletes are going to run a season opener in just a few weeks in Boston before taking a break again before the real season begins in earnest in January.
Many people on the forum have become familiar with NC State running over the past year or two due to the success of the women's cross country team and the individual success of Katelyn Tuohy in track and cross country. I know most people aren't really hardcore fans in general of the sport and just enjoy watching an NC State team experience success, but maybe the increased exposure will have a few people latch on to both the men's a womens programs going forward. While they were deservedly overshadowed by the women's team title, the men finished 11th at XC nationals! Thats a great race to be proud of and a program worth following here at NC State.
Going to go through event by event with people i think could/should contribute a lot to us this year. You'll see some unique events in indoor track, where some meets will race a 300m, 600m, 1000m, etc., But i'm going to focus on the ones that are raced at ACC's and NCAA's.
60M- Alan Alvarez per Gopack roster is taking his covid year and will be competing again this year. While he is probably going to run the 200 more often, he did finish 15th at ACC indoors last year with a 6.85s 60 meters. Isaiah Gadson ran a 6.89s 60 last year as a freshman to finish 16th at ACC indoors, and has run a 10.55 100m outdoors. Henry Young has run a 6.94 60m and a 10.53 100m outdoors. Incoming Freshman Lance Patterson has run a 6.82 55m dash.
200M - Alexander Nunley ran a 21.17 200m outdoors last year as a freshman. Alan Alvarez has a 21.25 PB. Isaiah Gadson has run a 21.43 PB and Henry Young has run a 21.44 PB. If one of them is able to translate this speed to indoors we could have a potential scorer at ACC's.
400M - Don't really have anyone that specializes in the 400m. A lot of the 200 and 800 guys have dabbled in the 4x400 relay when we run it, but dont really run the open 400m. Chris Jenkins is the only guy i could find with collegiate experience in the open 400 but its not a very competitive time on the ACC level.
800M - We've got a couple of guys with potential to score at ACC's here. Kyle Durham and Zach Hughes have been passing school records back and forth over the past year. Durham currently holds the indoor school records in the 600M with 1:19.48 and the 800M with 1:50.46, while Hughes took the school record this past spring in the outdoors with a 1:49.12. A 1:49 low indoors will get you scoring points at ACC's in most years. We also feature Jake Toomey (was just 6th on the team at NCAA XC) in this event with a 1:50.84 PB outdoors as well as Ares Epps, with a 1:50.40 PB. Gopack is indicating that Gavin Gaynor (which would be huge for the team) is going to be using his Covid year of eligibility and he has a 1:49.95 career PB.
Mile - Brett Gardner is probably our best at this distance, having run a 4:00 mile equivalent last outdoor season. Gavin Gaynor (again, if he is truly running this year) has about the same PB equivalent. Ian Harrison has run a 4:05 PB equivalent. Some of our other runners with better PB's in this event probably will be focusing on longer distances such as Ian Shanklin and Robinson Snider. Shanklin has a 4:03 mile equivalent in the 1500 earlier in his career and Snider has run
3000M - .A really competitive distance among the team. Ian Shanklin, Gavin Gaynor, Ian Harrison, and Robinson Snider all have PB's between 8:03 and 8:06. I would expect Shanklin and Snider to focus on the 5k but may run both at ACC's. I think this may be an event Brett Gardner focuses on as well. His PB in this specific event is "only" 8:14, but considering his massive improvement his XC season i can see him taking a another step forward on the track as well.
5000M - Ian Shanklin is the standout here having run a school re cord 13:23 PB outdoors in 2021. Robinson Snider has a 13:49 PB, Ian Harrison has a 13:57 PB. Brett Gardner doesn't race may open 5000's on the track but it feels like he is in sub 14:00 shape as well.
60 Hurdles - Josh Brockman redshirted last year's indoor season, and has a PB of 7.81s. But considering his rapid improvement into the school record holder in the 110 hurdles during 2022 outdoors, i think there are big things in store for him this year. Cameron Murray was 4th at ACC indoors last year and has a 7.73s PB.
4x400 m relay - NC state contests this generally with a mishmash of 200 and 800 specialists. Dont' expect us to be competitive here.
Distance Medley Relay - A very unique track event where each member of the team runs a different distance for their leg. Traditionally the event goes 1200 meter leg (3 laps of a standard track), 400 meter leg (1 lap), 800 meter leg (2 laps) and closed with a 1600 meter leg. NC State placed 3rd at ACC's last year and return all of those runners.
High Jump - NC State made a big splash signing one of the best jumps prospects to ever come out of North Carolina, Kyzaiah Stone. He is the NC High School all time record holder in the high jump with a jump of 7'1", which is already competitive for an ACC individual title as a high schooler. He is already only 3 inches from the school record. The Sky is the limit for this young man.
Pole Vault - I dont believe we have any pole vaulters on our roster.
Long Jump - This is a tough one to get a read on until the season starts as there a few people who have graduated and would need to be using covid years but are listed on the Gopack roster. One is Von Douglas, with a PB of 26'6.25" and a few All-Acc performances under his belt, his return would be a huge addition to the team. Another is Jamar Davis with a 25'2" PB and an Indoor All-Acc performance in his career in the LJ as well. If they are not competing this year, we are relying on Cameron Murray with his 25'7" PB, and Chris Alexander, who is more known as a triple jumper, with his 25'2" PB. Maybe a couple of other young guys can step up as well.
Triple Jump - Sort of a similar situation in regards to Von Douglas and Jamar Davis status being in the air and the impact they can have on this event, however our #1 in this event is Chris Alexander who is definitely returning with his 53 foot PB and being 3/3 on finishing top 6 at ACC Indoors and scoring, as well as finishing 13th nationally at NCAA indoors last year.
Shot Put - Lance Penegar was set to be our top returner here with a 52 foot PB, but i dont see him listed on the Gopack roster right now so i dont know the situation there. Fortunately however that shakes out, we have a couple of super talented young men joining the program this year in Nathan Lau and Denmar Chambers. Lau boasts a shotput PB of 51'0.25" and Chambers has a massive PB of 61 feet and was runner up at NC 4A state championships last year. Chambers has a chance to be competitive in the ACC from day 1.
Weight Throw - Pretty much the same situation pending Lance Penegar's status being cleared up. However both Nathan Lau and Denmar Chambers have a 177 foot PB at the Discus in high school which is a distance that can compete for top 10 in the ACC from day 1, so they should be able to translate that to the Weight throw indoors.
Heptathlon - I dont think we have anyone currently slated to run the multi events this year.
Wanted to start on the topic since some of the athletes are going to run a season opener in just a few weeks in Boston before taking a break again before the real season begins in earnest in January.
Many people on the forum have become familiar with NC State running over the past year or two due to the success of the women's cross country team and the individual success of Katelyn Tuohy in track and cross country. I know most people aren't really hardcore fans in general of the sport and just enjoy watching an NC State team experience success, but maybe the increased exposure will have a few people latch on to both the men's a womens programs going forward. While they were deservedly overshadowed by the women's team title, the men finished 11th at XC nationals! Thats a great race to be proud of and a program worth following here at NC State.
Going to go through event by event with people i think could/should contribute a lot to us this year. You'll see some unique events in indoor track, where some meets will race a 300m, 600m, 1000m, etc., But i'm going to focus on the ones that are raced at ACC's and NCAA's.
60M- Alan Alvarez per Gopack roster is taking his covid year and will be competing again this year. While he is probably going to run the 200 more often, he did finish 15th at ACC indoors last year with a 6.85s 60 meters. Isaiah Gadson ran a 6.89s 60 last year as a freshman to finish 16th at ACC indoors, and has run a 10.55 100m outdoors. Henry Young has run a 6.94 60m and a 10.53 100m outdoors. Incoming Freshman Lance Patterson has run a 6.82 55m dash.
200M - Alexander Nunley ran a 21.17 200m outdoors last year as a freshman. Alan Alvarez has a 21.25 PB. Isaiah Gadson has run a 21.43 PB and Henry Young has run a 21.44 PB. If one of them is able to translate this speed to indoors we could have a potential scorer at ACC's.
400M - Don't really have anyone that specializes in the 400m. A lot of the 200 and 800 guys have dabbled in the 4x400 relay when we run it, but dont really run the open 400m. Chris Jenkins is the only guy i could find with collegiate experience in the open 400 but its not a very competitive time on the ACC level.
800M - We've got a couple of guys with potential to score at ACC's here. Kyle Durham and Zach Hughes have been passing school records back and forth over the past year. Durham currently holds the indoor school records in the 600M with 1:19.48 and the 800M with 1:50.46, while Hughes took the school record this past spring in the outdoors with a 1:49.12. A 1:49 low indoors will get you scoring points at ACC's in most years. We also feature Jake Toomey (was just 6th on the team at NCAA XC) in this event with a 1:50.84 PB outdoors as well as Ares Epps, with a 1:50.40 PB. Gopack is indicating that Gavin Gaynor (which would be huge for the team) is going to be using his Covid year of eligibility and he has a 1:49.95 career PB.
Mile - Brett Gardner is probably our best at this distance, having run a 4:00 mile equivalent last outdoor season. Gavin Gaynor (again, if he is truly running this year) has about the same PB equivalent. Ian Harrison has run a 4:05 PB equivalent. Some of our other runners with better PB's in this event probably will be focusing on longer distances such as Ian Shanklin and Robinson Snider. Shanklin has a 4:03 mile equivalent in the 1500 earlier in his career and Snider has run
3000M - .A really competitive distance among the team. Ian Shanklin, Gavin Gaynor, Ian Harrison, and Robinson Snider all have PB's between 8:03 and 8:06. I would expect Shanklin and Snider to focus on the 5k but may run both at ACC's. I think this may be an event Brett Gardner focuses on as well. His PB in this specific event is "only" 8:14, but considering his massive improvement his XC season i can see him taking a another step forward on the track as well.
5000M - Ian Shanklin is the standout here having run a school re cord 13:23 PB outdoors in 2021. Robinson Snider has a 13:49 PB, Ian Harrison has a 13:57 PB. Brett Gardner doesn't race may open 5000's on the track but it feels like he is in sub 14:00 shape as well.
60 Hurdles - Josh Brockman redshirted last year's indoor season, and has a PB of 7.81s. But considering his rapid improvement into the school record holder in the 110 hurdles during 2022 outdoors, i think there are big things in store for him this year. Cameron Murray was 4th at ACC indoors last year and has a 7.73s PB.
4x400 m relay - NC state contests this generally with a mishmash of 200 and 800 specialists. Dont' expect us to be competitive here.
Distance Medley Relay - A very unique track event where each member of the team runs a different distance for their leg. Traditionally the event goes 1200 meter leg (3 laps of a standard track), 400 meter leg (1 lap), 800 meter leg (2 laps) and closed with a 1600 meter leg. NC State placed 3rd at ACC's last year and return all of those runners.
High Jump - NC State made a big splash signing one of the best jumps prospects to ever come out of North Carolina, Kyzaiah Stone. He is the NC High School all time record holder in the high jump with a jump of 7'1", which is already competitive for an ACC individual title as a high schooler. He is already only 3 inches from the school record. The Sky is the limit for this young man.
Pole Vault - I dont believe we have any pole vaulters on our roster.
Long Jump - This is a tough one to get a read on until the season starts as there a few people who have graduated and would need to be using covid years but are listed on the Gopack roster. One is Von Douglas, with a PB of 26'6.25" and a few All-Acc performances under his belt, his return would be a huge addition to the team. Another is Jamar Davis with a 25'2" PB and an Indoor All-Acc performance in his career in the LJ as well. If they are not competing this year, we are relying on Cameron Murray with his 25'7" PB, and Chris Alexander, who is more known as a triple jumper, with his 25'2" PB. Maybe a couple of other young guys can step up as well.
Triple Jump - Sort of a similar situation in regards to Von Douglas and Jamar Davis status being in the air and the impact they can have on this event, however our #1 in this event is Chris Alexander who is definitely returning with his 53 foot PB and being 3/3 on finishing top 6 at ACC Indoors and scoring, as well as finishing 13th nationally at NCAA indoors last year.
Shot Put - Lance Penegar was set to be our top returner here with a 52 foot PB, but i dont see him listed on the Gopack roster right now so i dont know the situation there. Fortunately however that shakes out, we have a couple of super talented young men joining the program this year in Nathan Lau and Denmar Chambers. Lau boasts a shotput PB of 51'0.25" and Chambers has a massive PB of 61 feet and was runner up at NC 4A state championships last year. Chambers has a chance to be competitive in the ACC from day 1.
Weight Throw - Pretty much the same situation pending Lance Penegar's status being cleared up. However both Nathan Lau and Denmar Chambers have a 177 foot PB at the Discus in high school which is a distance that can compete for top 10 in the ACC from day 1, so they should be able to translate that to the Weight throw indoors.
Heptathlon - I dont think we have anyone currently slated to run the multi events this year.
